Nexus
by Lady Seiryu
Summary: What if someone had been there to keep Sirius from running off after Peter? How different the story would be. AU, Sirius/OC, H/Hr, Dumbles and some Weasley bashing. Please read AN, and R&R!


**A/N:**

So, yes, this is my first Harry Potter story, and my first story in a very long time. The plot bunny just wouldn't leave me alone. It will be AU in many ways, as obvious by the summary, so if you don't like that, please don't read. There will be Dumbledore and some Weasley bashing, and I might even reform Draco and Snape, though it might take some time. It will be a HARRY/HERMIONE story eventually, though the beginning will be a foundation of a SIRIUS/OC story. And yes, yes, I know the story plot as been done over and over again, so sue me. **You've been warned.** Don't flame me later for the matter, please and thank you.

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I wish on so many different levels, but I don't own anything. If I did, I wouldn't owe Cornell so much money!

* * *

Sirius Black wasn't sure what exactly had roused him from his sleep; as he scanned the place he took notice that the wards were still in place and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. In fact, the only unusual thing about the room he was currently in seemed to be the woman sleeping next to him, and even then (he grinned rakishly) having Maggie Pond in his bed was not all that unusual. Still, something was off, so the Marauder slid from his position and reached for the magic mirror he used to contact his friends.

These were war times, and was an Auror, he figured his paranoia was starting to get to him even as he called his best friend, James Potter, he just hoped he didn't turn into another Moody. He heard Maggie shifting in the background, but was distracted by the fact that James, Prongs, was not answering his call. Sirius's brows furrowed and his anxiety increased. Prongs always responded. He tried again and when the second time failed he started growing frantic. He tried calling Peter next, worst case scenarios already running through his head. Surely when Peter told him everything was alright, the anxiety he felt would subside. Hell, James was probably having some _adult_ time with Lily, for which Sirius would give him hell for. Surely.

Morgana "Maggie" Pond was a muggle-born witch. Whilst at Hogwarts, she had been part of the Ravenclaw house and one of the top students in Potions and Charms. If it weren't for the war, she would have been working on her apprenticeship at St. Mungo's, but no one wanted to draw the eye of the Dark Lord and so no one took on the skilled witch. Currently, she was laying in the bed of the notorious Sirius Black after a rather steamy night, watching him tap his foot impatiently, waiting for something in that little mirror to show up.

The reality of the nature of their relationship was simple. They were friends (had met during on of Sirius's many detentions), who at times, thanks to this bloody war, needed someone they could trust (and enjoy) to make them feel better, alive. Not a one night stand, but neither a devoted relationship. They were simply friends with benefits.

And as a friend, Maggie thought with a frown, she knew that there was something wrong with the ever cheerful Sirius. She barely had time to register his movements as he quickly dropped the mirror unto the nightstand and started putting on clothing as fast as possible. She would have made a joke, but the look on his face made her get up and start donning her clothes as fast as she could too.

"What the hell is going on Sirius?"

The man didn't even look up from the boots he was pulling unto his feet. "Something's wrong Maggie. James…he didn't pick up, and now I can't find Peter, and…there's something wrong!" She felt her own heart skip a beat at the rising panic in his voice and made to move faster, though she did wonder how not being able to locate Pettigrew had anything to do with Potter. "Are you going over to…_wherever _it is that Potter is?" It was a stupid question, because she knew that Sirius Black would kill for James Potter and the man's son. The look he sent her confirmed it.

"Let me go with you."

He sent her another look, this time as he grabbed his wand and the keys to that horrible flying contraption of his. "I can't do that Maggie." The witch in question glared. "It's not that I don't trust you or anything, but you know how things are." She glared some more. "Hell…hell, I'm not even sure what the bloody hell is going on, if there is anything going on! But I have to make sure." She followed him out the door, wand tucked into the right pocket of her coat. Now she was feeling agitated, obviously picking up on his feelings. And she couldn't ignore it either, it had been these particular feelings that had kept her from dying in the last Death Eater raid on Diagon Alley.

"Let me go with you," she repeated, "and if there is nothing wrong, then…well, you can _Obliviate_ me, how's that, yeah?" She knew that for Sirius there was nothing more important than the Potter family's safety. This gave Sirius pause for a moment but he looked like he was going to turn down the offer, so she continued. "If,_ if_, by chance there is _something_," she stressed the 'if' seeing the tension on his face already, "two wands are better than one Sirius." Since there was no way he could refute that piece of logic, he curtly nodded and motioned for her to sit behind him on the motorcycle. As they took off, the feeling of anxiety increased, and Maggie seriously hoped that she would never remember this night.

* * *

Morgana "Maggie" Pond spotted the cottage in Godric's Hollow before they landed, and could barely contain herself from crying out at the destruction she saw and the loss of life she knew awaited inside.

She could hear Sirius's muttered denials, but she _knew_ that the Potter's were dead.

Sirius was off the bike and sprinting into the house before the bike even touched the ground, wand drawn, and she cursed his impatience as she followed him, her own 7" Yew wand drawn, ready to fire at any foe's who remained.

She walked in through the front door, her eyes scanning for movement, looking for the enemy, when she spotted the body of James Potter and she froze. Now, she wasn't exactly a regular on the Marauder group, but she knew them, from school and classes, from being friends with Sirius, and she _liked _them. James and Lily Potter had been good people, people like her, and staring at the body of James, who's eyes had always shone with mischievousness but were now dull and lifeless, made her sick.

She would have stayed there had she sound of a baby crying not finally registered. Gripping her wand tighter, she sprinted up the stairs two at a time following the sound until she finally burst in through the door of the nursery, wand tip already lit with a spell as she pointed at the enemy.

As she pointed at Sirius Black.

Maggie knew the Potter's had gone into hiding, hell everybody did, and they had good reason for doing so too as far as she was concerned. If a madman was hunting her baby, she sure as hell would have gotten the hell outta Dodge. She only knew they were under the _Fidelius_ because she had tried to remember where they lived and had failed to do so after an offhanded comment by Sirius. She also knew that the person the Potter's had trusted most, had trusted with their secret had betrayed them, and he was now standing before her holding their child.

"Put the baby down gently _Black_," it sounded like a curse word as she said it, "or you'll regret it."

* * *

His heart had constricted painfully in his chest at the sight of the cottage, almost causing him to be sick from the pain it caused him. Even as he denied what he was seeing, thinking about all the wild ways James and Lily would have managed to escape with the Prongslet, he _knew_, in his heart, that he would find the man he called brother and his family dead, in the one place that were supposed to have been safe.

Seconds before the bike touched the ground he vaulted off, forgetting all about it and his passenger, and ran into the house, almost wishing for Voldemort to still be there. Sirius had visions of killing the psychopath with his bare hands.

The sight of James Potter, bloody and lifeless in his own living room, surrounded by pictures of his family and even some of the Prongslet's toys would have normally stopped Sirius in his tracts. It almost did, but his hearing picked up the Pongslet's cries and he turned away from the macabre view of his brother's body, his heart beating in his chest, daring to hope against hope that little baby Harry, his godson was alright.

He found the boy sitting in his crib, red cheeked from all his crying, from fear, pain, and the lack of response from his parents. Baby Harry gave another panicked cry when Sirius entered the wrecked room, before realizing who he was. "Pa'foo, pa'foo!" Little grubby hands reached out to him, and it was all Sirius needed to run over to the boy and pick him up.

He cuddled the baby to him, thanking all the gods in existence that at least this boy was alive and well. Tears streamed down the proud man's face as he sniffed the tuff of unruly black hair on the baby's head, the smell and feel of it anchoring him to the reality in his grief. He could barely look down at the body that lay beside the crib, at Lily, wonderful, magical Lily-of-the-green-eyes, his sister, without chocking on his sorrow. His family was dead, but at least Harry was safe.

He didn't know how long he stood there, holding onto the baby boy, giving and taking comfort before he heard Maggie behind him. He'd forgotten all about her.

"Put the baby down gently _Black_," it sounded like a curse word as she said it, "or you'll regret it."

His brows furrowed, his mind barely registering what she was saying, only that she had a wand pointed at Harry, and that was all he needed to classify her as an enemy.

Even with a baby in his arms and had his wand drawn and casting before she could react, if only because she didn't dare actually try to curse the man while baby Potter was in his arms.

Sirius had her wand in his hands and her pinned and immobilized within seconds, and was growling at her dangerously in his throat. She just growled back.

"How could you!" It wasn't a question, rather an accusation that she spit into his face. If she were to die here so be it, as long as she kept him occupied long enough for someone to get here and safe the baby. "How could you betray James and Lily like that?" She grew more enraged as he reacted as if she had just slapped him. "You disgusting son-of-a-bitch! You maggot! They trusted you! They loved you! And you sold them out to that piece of shit!" She was getting even more hysteric, because it wasn't fair, and the baby started to cry again, making her fear for his life. And Sirius was just starting at her looking even more bewildered. "Let go of their baby you sick bastard! He's a baby!" Her voice cracked a little there. "You fucking coward!" She would have kept going but he put a silencing charm on her. She glared at him (and if looks could kill), even as she feared what would happen to them, to her and baby Potter.

Sirius took a minute to calm down Prongslet, Maggie screaming had not helped the matter, the boy had been very frightened by her screams and the sudden movements of his godfather and the flying spells. He took a moment to rock the baby, whispering to him softly trying to reassure him, before noticing the cut on his forehead. He furrowed his brows for the millionth time that night as he noticed the odd shape, but considering it wasn't bleeding any more, and baby Harry was otherwise unharmed he let it drop. It was only a cut. It was also one more thing Pettigrew would pay for, he thought as he clenched his fist at the thought of the traitorous little rat, before he turned to Maggie once again.

He stared at her for a moment, and would have laughed at her glare had the situation not have been so very grim. At least though, he recognized what was going on through her head at the moment, and sighed at the logic of it. He knew however that she was not going to simply accept his word for it, he knew he wouldn't if he was in her situation, and what she said was true. James, and Lily, had trusted him above all others, and, he chocked back a sob, he had in a sense had a hand in killing them.

"Maggie," he sighed as her glared intensified and she struggled against the magical bindings that held her captive. Seems she didn't like being addressed so informally by a _murderer_. He carefully brought his wand into her line of vision and her struggling grew worse.

"I, Sirius Orion Black, do here by swear on my life and magic that I was not the Potter's secret keeper and that I did not betray them to the Dark Lord Voldemort. As I will, so mote it be."

He had spoken the words slowly and with intent as he stared at her, and when she saw that he was still standing afterward she almost slumped to the ground, tears forming in her eyes from relief. He idly thought as he _Finite_ the spells on her that the magic should have killed him.

"Oh…oh Sirius," Maggie whispered and launched herself into his arms, careful of baby Potter, so very thankful that he wasn't the man she feared he was, relieved that both she and the baby would see another day. But if not Sirius, then who…She gasped.

"That rat bastard!" And she didn't even know.

Sirius nodded briefly before depositing Harry into her arms softly, though it still caused the boy to whimper. "Pettigrew was the secret keeper. He did this. I'm going to hunt him and…and…_kill_ him!" His agitation had returned, only this time fueled by anger and not worry. His magic flared around him angrily as his grief and anger fed each other, building. "Take care of Harry Maggie, I'm going to hunt that bastard down and-!" He was almost out the door when she grabbed his arm and held him back. "Let go Maggie!" He lowered his voice now that he saw that Harry was starting to cry again.

"So you can do what, huh? I know you want the traitor dead Sirius." He growled his approval. "But you have no idea where that bastard is, and at the moment I would think that the baby-"

"Harry." She looked confused for a moment, until she realized that was the boy's name and nodded.

"At the moment, _Harry_, is more important." She knew the look on his face, he was torn between agreeing and going off anyway. She had to think fast. "Harry needs someone to take care of him and-"

"You wouldn't mind watching him for a while would you Maggie? While I-"

"That's not what I meant!" But she could feel him pulling away from her and knew he would try to Disapparate the moment she let go, so she started talking fast. "What if something happens to you, huh? Pettigrew I have no doubt that you can beat, but what if he's with more Death Eaters, what then? Or are you planning to go down in a blaze of glory and leave Harry all alone? I don't have custody of the boy Sirius, but I'm willing to bet my last Galleon that you do!"

"There are others that-"

"And that's what you think James and Lily would have wanted? For you, the first person they would want caring for their son, I'm sure, to go and get himself killed? You selfish prick!"

Sirius still looked angry and torn, but he gave in. He wanted to scream and rave and still go after the rat but he could almost hear Lily's voice in his head screaming at his stupidity. _Sirius Orion Black, you dunderhead!_ He knew that she, nor Prongs, would ever forgive him if he left Harry alone, even if Moony or the Longbottom's were still able to take him in. Ah yes, what he wouldn't do to hear her dulcet tones raging at him again. He slumped against Maggie, his grief too much for him to bear alone at the moment.

"Come on then Sirius. Let's get Harry out of here shall we? We don't want to run the risk of more unwanted visitors longer than we already have…" The woman looked about, wincing as she looked at Lily, a woman she had respected and liked very much, but summoned the few baby things that were undamaged in the room, including a stuff stag doll that little Harry immediately grabbed.

The downtrodden man held on to her shoulders, and she knew he cried for his brother and his wife, and the betrayal of them and his friendship. It would take a long time for Sirius Black to heal. But as she was sure to remind him, at least he had little Harry.

The trio Disapparated with a crack just before a certain gamekeeper touched down.

It would be hours before they knew the extraordinary events that took place at Godric's Hollow.

* * *

**A/N:** So there's the first chapter. It's more like an introduction really.

What I have planned for this story so far:

-Sirius/Maggie

-Harry/Hermione

-Sirius and Maggie escaping with Harry to the Muggle world to escape Dumbles and the press

-Pettigrew being hunted down by Remus, who is then imprisoned (though he does get let out)

-And other random crap like that…

I would like to hear people's opinion on the story line itself, as well as on grammar, structure and the like. Constructive criticism is more than welcomed. Reviews really do keep a person motivated to write.


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